Welcome to My K12 Learning Blog

Shelley,

Thank you for planning and offering this course. You’re right, there have been some hiccups along the way, but the experience has been enlightening. Because of this course, I now have a broad, yet general knowledge of may new tools, most of which I knew nothing about. In the past, I would say that I want to use more technology in my classroom. But how does one do that without any knowledge of the available tools. Today, I can have an academic objective and peruse a variety of tools that will allow me to make the learning experience more engaging and meaningful. Thank you!

I’ve been involved with the Professional Learning Consorium: Powerful Learning Practices since the fall. Visiting Ning regularly was a part of the commitment. While I was impressed with the knowledge and human resources that I found there, I also found it to be overwhelming and challenging to sift through. Somewhere along the way, I also did some research into the value of social networking in the classroom. On this topic, I firmly believe that sites like Facebook and Myspace have very little or no value in education, with the exception of teaching students the pitfalls and privacy issues that arrive with them. I doubt students would like their online social “scene” transformed into a classroom. Wikis and blogs seem to be a better way to encourage academic thought and communication.

Pageflakes has so many applications for me personally. I’ve begun to set up a Pageflakes page as a “family planner”. Professionally, I may use it with a theme of study. For example, we are currently reading My Side of the Mountain. It would be interesting to set up a page about “all things outdoors”, the animals and plants that Sam discovers, maps of the area in the Catskills he is traveling, vocabulary and a dictionary are just a few of the flakes we could include.

If only I had hours to sift through the videos. I’m sure there are some videos that would prove valuable to my students, but I didn’t find them in the 30 minutes I spent searching. I will, however, carry on my search….another day. It was interesting to see what Mr. Porter, another 4th grade teacher is doing in his classroom. I plan to visit his videos again. Also, I enjoyed watching the vetriloquist, Terri Fader, from America’s Got Talent. Check it out. It’s very entertaining. In short, YouTube has a lot to offer for simple entertainment value, but the quality educational videos seem to be harder to come by.

I think my podcast says it all. Feel free to listen.

http://www.evoca.com/joaniesmith.rss

I definitely believe podcasting is a valuable web 2.0 tool in the classroom. Finding podcasts that meet my students’ needs seemed to be the hardest part. PBS seemed to provide quality and factual podcasts that I will use in my classroom. One of the sites required podcasts to be purchased or so it appeared. There seems no need to pay for these. When time permits, I’ll  find plenty of free and  meaningful podcasts.

No thanks! I don’t really think I’d ever use this or spend any time reading other people’s goals and progress toward them. I imagine this might be helpful if you’re single, new to town, etc…, but who has the time for this?

Library Thing is very cool. I can see way voracious readers have written such rave reviews. I don’t really buy that many books, so I have no need to use the catalog. However, I will use it for a book review. Often times, I get hooked on an author and want to read several or all of his or her books. This will make choosing my next book easy. I can choose it on Library Thing, then order it from the public library, and pick it up when it arrives. Cool!

Quizlet is the tool I chose to explore. It is amazing! There are countless applications for this tool in almost any classroom. I’m constantly telling my students that good readers ask questions…now they can write them too, as well as, get immediate feedback from their peers who take their quizzes.

Clarence’s walk through history was eye opening. It never occured to me that we have always been in a constant state of change. I’m proud to be an educator who is willing to embrace this change. I plan to slow down, and focus on learning the best way to use these new forms of literacy with my students.